solfi

„We continue to strive to provide you with premium services to suit your needs. This month we are pleased to announce some exciting news and updates for our Platinum members. There will be more changes coming soon, stay tuned.“

Let‘s see what and when and for who...

But overall so far quite ok, will see on 26th october morning how the shower situation will be in Al Sawa.
10 extra Qcredits will come handy, was short 2 qcredits for an upgrade = 27 Qcredits expired unused.

ph-ndr

So to sum up these changes:
1. Lets start using a lounge that basically saw very limited use a bit more.
2. Hand out pretend points that have very limited actual use.

Verdict thus far: still flying other airlines and happy having built up status elsewhere.
What to watch out for: keep an eye out for dilution of the AS product, and yet to be communicated gotchas to appear in fine print.

-A

msm2000uk

On your Point 1: You raise a fair point, yet plenty of people were willing to pay to access it, so no evidently complimentary access is going to be a positive step.

On your Point 2: Plenty of people use QCredits, but you perhaps don't. End of.

So much whinging, not just from you, but QR are clearly trying to improve things for their Privilege cardholders.

There will be further improvements to the program; these are just the first steps.

M

purple1addict

Well... I see it as:

1. Win for Platinum members flying mostly in J
2. Win for Platinum members flying mostly in Y

plunet

The other advantage is if the plats get to go to AS, then that will take a bit of pressure of AM.

purple1addict

I agree. If we respond so negatively to every improvement QRPC try to make, then why would they bother to keep trying?

kl1987

Or if you have already made up your mind that no improvements will make a difference, then why still be active and comment in the QR forum.

Move along please.

fender5787

This is correct. If QR feels it can’t win, why would they improve anything from the get-go. Like all things in life, one needs to look at these things from a balanced and objective point of view. Did everyone get everything they wanted from their wishlist? Of course not, but you’re never gonna satisfy everyone. Is QRPC a better program for its high tier members than it was yesterday? Objectively 100% yes.

railways

I don't see massive whingeing - nearly everyone seems positive about Al Safwa access. I think it's great news, personally. It is to be hoped that they have planned for the necessary increase in resources to handle the additional patronage - that goes without saying.

Regarding Qcredits - the problem is that there is such a narrow range of usage (and always has been). They could, for example, extend usage to 2 years so that you can at least accumulate unused credits from one year with the next year's allocation.

It is great to hear that they are planning further improvements, but they have been saying this for some time. And were they really planning to announce these two relatively modest changes with a big press pack?

msm2000uk

The number of people in the AM is something QR are aware of, and they're working on a solution.

Part 1 is now active.

Agreed.

M

msm2000uk

The Al Safwa access is pretty big news for Platinum cardholders, and something which I first reported was being discussed 2 years ago.

It was sidelined, but Jacob has managed to get it across the line in the first 3 months of joining QR - so I think we can see that the focus has shifted on to making customers happy.

M

mpkz

Yes but there's a clear "logic" there, i.e. normal BA Golds don't get access either. Just like the old al Safwa.

mpkz

Clearly trying to improve things by making one logical improvement that should've done been done 2 years ago and one decent change that doesn't even compensate for the devaluation of QCredits?

To me it seems like a bunch of people are "starstruck" from having QR arrange an event and promise some changes. These changes are very minor and don't do much to undo all the damage their incredibly short-sighted management has caused in the past year or so. If anyone here is working in sales, take notes: It's not difficult to make your customers feel special while completely screwing them on product.

fender5787

Well I think the logic here is that one needs to be flying on a paid Business ticket in addition to being a QR plat to get into AS. QR plats in Y and OWS’s have the first lounge, in similar fashion to BA. I don’t think it’s best to compare this to BA’s CCR/First lounge dichotomy, but I do think this will be fine per OW standards since there’s still an F lounge for OWS (and QR plats in Y).

railways

It's all about the PR.

Instead of hints and rumours about major announcements, maybe it would have been better to have launched these improvements unannounced - that would genuinely get the wow factor.

I am a big fan of QR and have flown only QR on long-haul for several years, and love the experience every time. I was hoping for the Al Safwa access as a Plat - and lo and behold! It goes some way to offset the devaluation in miles last year when I had to cancel an award very shortly before the change.